Tyrant’s Key Pillar of Support – THE NGOs
Nongovernmental Organizations, NGOs, that can function outside direct control and supervision of the government is a potential asset to a democracy movement… [read more]
Author: EthiopianReview.com
German parliamentarians denounces media ban in Ethiopia
German Parliamentarian Thilo Hoppe issued the following press release today on the attempt by Ethiopia’s khat-addicted dictator to ban independent media and silence critics.
PRESS RELEASE
(PDF)
According to reports from journalists at Voice of America and Deutsche Welle, the Ethiopian government is keeping a “blacklist” of names of “undesirable” journalists and “subversive” critics. In this context, Thilo Hoppe, a Member of the German Bundestag who is himself amongst those listed, has made the following statement:
The attempt to ban foreign media broadcasting in Ethiopia from conducting interviews with opposition activists and critical observers demonstrates once again the sorry state of freedom of expression in Ethiopia.
According to information provided by the Committee to Protect Journalists, Ethiopia has one of the highest rates of exiled journalists in the world. Under the guise of an anti-terrorism law adopted in 2009, newspapers are being shut down and journalists arrested. The radio frequencies of the Deutsche Welle’s Amharic programme are frequently systematically jammed.
After the intergovernmental negotiations with Ethiopia in June, German Development Minister Niebel stressed the importance of human-rights dialogue in German-Ethiopian development cooperation.
If more than lip service is to be paid to this human-rights dialogue, these new cases of violation of press freedom must also be clearly and firmly raised in discussions with Ethiopian partners.
Saudi billionaire wins libel action against Ethiopian editor
(BBC) An Ethiopian-born billionaire has won £175,000 in libel damages over allegations he had hunted his daughter down so she could be stoned to death.
Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi was born in Ethiopia, but now spends his time at homes in central London, Surrey and Saudi Arabia.
The article was published on the online news website Ethiopian Review.
Judge Richard Parkes QC said it was difficult to imagine more serious allegations.
The site’s publisher and editor-in-chief, Elias Kifle, had denied liability.
The judge said that instead of apologising Mr Kifle had repeated the libel and abused Mr al-Amoudi and his lawyers.
The High Court in London heard Mr Kifle’s response to the initial complaint was: “Here is my formal statement: Screw yourself”.
The court heard Mr Kifle then went on to describe Mr al-Amoudi as a “scumbag bloodsucker” who was “funding al-Qaeda”.
Mr al-Amoudi, 65, gave evidence during the libel trial that he was completely opposed to all forms of terrorism.
The judge said the site alleged that Mr al-Amoudi had “disgracefully and callously” married off his daughter Sarah, then 13, to an elderly member of the Saudi royal family as a gift.
‘Wholly untrue’
The article went on to claim that Mr al-Amoudi was probably responsible for murdering his daughter’s lover in Iraq and had hunted his daughter and granddaughter across London in an attempt to ensure they were stoned to death in Saudi Arabia.
Mr al-Amoudi told the court he was horrified by the “wholly untrue” article which could be seen by visitors to the website between January and August 2010, when it was finally taken down.
Mr al-Amoudi, who has a son and seven daughters, said he had a normal relationship with Sarah, who was not married.
He said she had completed a business administration degree in the UK.
Assessing damages, the judge said: “The claimant is not, I judge, a man who wears his heart on his sleeve.
“But his distress as he described the effect of the article on himself and on his family was evident to me, and the more so because, as it seemed to me, he was doing his best to preserve his composure.”
Mr al-Amoudi, who was in the top 50 of Forbes magazine’s 2009 rich list, is believed to have made his money in construction, oil refineries and mining.
Mr al-Amoudi, who is of mixed Ethiopian and Arab heritage, is sometimes described as the world’s richest black man.
He was recently reported to be financing the building of Saudi Arabia’s first car factory.
Civil resistance = to remove + to replace the tyrant
BUSINESS COMMUNITY, by providing people with goods and services that the government does not supply, and by playing an important role even in most centralized societies, business communities are frequently recognized as a very important pillar of support… [read more]
ESAT analysis on the VOA demonstration (video)
Ethiopians held a protest rally on Monday against the attempt by some to restrict VOA’s Amharic broadcast after a high-level VOA delegation went to Ethiopia recently and met with Woyanne junta leaders. The following is an analysis and report on Monday’s protest.
A question to Kuma Demeksa and Dula Aba Gemeda
Kuma Demeksa, Dula Aba Gemeda, and Alemayehu Atomsa are the most favorite puppets of Ethiopia’s khat-addicted tyrant Meles Zenawi. They have been appointed by Meles as top officials of Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO) to represent Oromia Region in his government. Alemayehu Atomsa is the current president of Oromia. The question to these three pigs is: Why is there a famine in the fertile Oromia region, and no food shortage in the dry Tigray region?
The following USAID map shows the current famine in the Horn of Africa that is threatening 10 million people. Most of the famine victims live in Oromia, a region that is rich in natural resources and has several rivers that are now being irrigated for flower farm. Over 1.3 million hectares of fertile land in the Oromia region alone has been sold by Meles to Saudi, Indian and Chinese companies to grow flower and food crops for export.
